New Year's @ the Strip!

[birthright_npc]

The festivities on the Las Vegas strip were your basic police nightmare. A mile-long stretch of the boulevard was blocked off to traffic so that revelers could stagger drunkenly down the middle of the street. Food trucks and street vendors sold pizza, cheese steaks, popcorn, cotton candy, and plastic cups full of beer. Some sold pre-mixed margaritas and daiquiris. At each major intersection, a stage showcased performers and music pumped from speakers mounted on the light posts.

It didn't seem to matter that it was December in the desert. There was plenty of body heat to go around.

At midnight, several large screens would broadcast a countdown before fireworks lit the sky.

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[deannas]

Street margaritas. This was why Deanna loved Vegas.

Street margaritas and easily preyed-upon drunk tourists. These reasons were why Deanna loved Vegas.

Street margaritas, easily preyed-upon drunk tourists and twenty-four hour gambling. These were among the many reasons Deanna loved Vegas.

That it was New Year's Eve made the vampiress laugh, because honestly? How could you tell the difference?

A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

Cian had already scoped out the stairs and was quickly down on street level, weaving his way through the throng that was drunkenly meshing into large amoebic masses, then almost as if bifurcating, becoming two, then four, then reuniting. Cian managed to make it through one particular mass just as the reunion happened and he let out a small laugh at the plaintive calls of some members of the mass who were telling him he should join them.

"Next time," he said, not even breaking his travel as he turned to locate Deanna. It wasn't difficult to pick her out in the crowd, the statuesque figure as different to those around her as a sharp volcanic core in a sea of seething foam. He made sure to circle around and approach her from in front, wanting to make sure there was no mistake, that he wasn't on a mission of murder but instead looking for answers.

Green eyes met over the heads of the bowed crowd between them, Cian holding his hands up, as if to confirm the lack of weapons, and lack of intent to harm as he approached.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[deannas]

A copped feel here, a grope there; the redhead was so distracted by the variety on the strip she'd almost missed the man intentionally walking against the flow towards her.

And with his hands in the air, a ... surrender? That made no sense. She looked at him more closely, and recognized the face. She'd seen it across a room once before, standing next to the slayer at the Skylark benefit.

No, not surrender. More... 'I come in peace'.

"I'm guessing you don't think I stabbed your girlfriend," she offered as greeting. (It's not like the throng of revelers would be listening.)

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

"Aye," Cian nodded, eyeing the vampiress and sidestepping a stumbling pair who surged between the two of them and staggered off, oblivious.

"I know y' didn' do it," he told the redhead, eyes returning to her face. "She saw who it was. 'nd I heard y' went after her," he said, wondering if that tidbit of information was true.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[deannas]

"Call it a moment of weakness." Which, after finishing a third of the tequila left at The Hart for her by Theresa, she'd decided it was. "I promised not to leave any bodies that night, and I didn't like the idea of someone else taking that shot."

Deanna kept one eye on the (at least in relation to her) tall man and the other on the crowd. A frat boy made a play for her boob as he brushed past, which she narrowly avoided.

"And given the mix of scents on you, I'm going with 'attempt' and not 'success'."

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

"We're lookin' f' the one who did it," he said, with a simple nod, not about to give away any information on Rhiannon's health, or whereabouts, especially to one who freely admitted to wanting to do something similar to the Slayer.

"Or the one who paid her," he added, head angling slightly. He hadn't been able to find out anything about Duncan, the only word he'd picked up being that there had been a hit, paid well, and it hadn't been a local job. No-one knew who had called it.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[deannas]

'Oh you clever boy.' He'd only confirm that the Slayer had survived the assault, but nothing more. And then there was the cocking of his head with the statement that the assailant had been paid. To see if Deanna knew anything more.

"She was definitely trained," the redhead replied. "And she knew the lay of the land, access and exit points. I'm betting this was planned well in advance, which means she's spent time in Vegas.

That was as helpful as Deanna felt. That someone had found Rhiannon first and got a clear shot... that made her jealous. That she was willing to go after the would-be assassin, that was disturbing.

"But maybe you're not asking the right question. See, if I wanted someone dead -- by proxy -- I'd want to be close by to enjoy her final moments. Also, sending a vampire, and using a knife instead of teeth? Seems to me like your girlfriend was supposed to live through the attack."

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

Her comments left him with more to ponder, given that they had only decided at the last minute to go to the ball. And it wasn't as if they had advertised their attendance, the only ones knowing being a couple of the girls in the cafe at Cottonwood, and whoever Rhiannon might have told. So it seemed that while it was planned, it wasn't planned specifically to happen there, that just presented the perfect opportunity for the attacker to do the deed and disappear into a crowd. His mouth tightened as he thought of what he'd like to do to the smug-faced coward Rhiannon had identified as Katherine.

"Cowards send in someone else t' do their dirty work, and this one's a coward if ever there were one," Cian growled, a great deal of self-control being used to keep his body at ease, and his face calm. "Hidin' behind th' skirts 'f his paid lacky."

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[deannas]

As the man spoke, she watched his body language, studied the intonation of each word. The anger radiated off him like a dry desert heat.

"You know who ordered the hit." Things were getting interesting.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

He eyed her, a tiny lift of the chin lending some sort of confirmation to her statement. "Aye. A coward," he repeated, still seeing Rhiannon's face as she told him who it was, even as she was lying there in the hotel.

"Did y' catch her?" he asked Deanna, "Katherine?" he added, confirming that they did know who it was who'd done the stabbing.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[deannas]

Ah, so that was her name...

Deanna considered telling the truth just then, that she'd spent a few brief seconds with the other vampiress, had spoken near gibberish before storming off back to the hotel.

But where was the fun in that? The redhead liked to play games, on occasion. She was also very good at running a long con.

"Caught her as she was trying to crawl up a fire escape a block from the Skylark, traded a few blows. I wasn't exactly dressed for a drawn-out fight, and she used it against me."

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

Cian's eyebrow arched slightly as she spoke, taking her words with a large grain of salt. When he'd asked around after the attacker by name he'd heard nothing of her having had any scuffle after. But he realised it wouldn't be something she'd admit, so it would only have been eye witnesses who might have been able to report on it, and there was no saying there were any.

Except Deanna.

He shrugged. "She'll pay," was all he said, then added, "hope she broke a nail," in a soft snarl, something he hadn't said in a very long time, and wouldn't mean anything to anyone except him, and a long gone companion of his.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[deannas]

"Good luck with that," she offered. "I can tell you this much. Katherine is old...er, like me. We're a lot harder to kill."

A group of three girls stumbled into their path, and one, a blonde, careened into the redhead. She took mental note. The girl was going to be the redhead's noisemaker shortly.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

Cian's eyes narrowed as he watched Deanna look at the girl who bumped her. "She's my favourite kind, a coward," he told her calmly, "and they all have a price." He gave a cold smile as he added, "and she's been paid hers."

He glanced after the girls then looked back at Deanna. "Thanks for the information though, I'll be sure to keep my eye out for the 'oldies'," he added, pushing his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[deannas]

"One man's coward..." she began, before trailing off. Deanna, like Katherine, picked their battles. Except that one time she went up against a telekinetic on a whim and got glass jammed in her throat. You were more assured a win if you knew your enemy, and Rhiannon had clearly been studied.

Studied. Student. Teacher. Watcher. Council.

Who else would hire a vampire to kill a Slayer?

Deanna smiled at the man, a mischievous grin. "Thanks for the info. Give my best to your girl, and tell her I hope she gets better soon."

Re: A Were and a Vampiress meet

[cian_oneill]

He gave the redhead a brief nod and turned, making his way through the crowd to the girls who had bumped into Deanna earlier. He picked the one who looked up at him first, the least drunk, and told her to get her friend home, but not take any alleys or empty streets.

"Y' gotta be careful who's out t'night," he added, the girl looking at him strangely, but at least apparently taking in his warning.

He didn't go directly back to the hotel, but helped another girl pick up her boyfriend who'd just lost an argument with a pole he'd tried to climb as a dare, and failed miserably. He sighed softly to himself and looked around, slipping into a side alley and making his way around to the back entrance of the hotel. He wasn't about to lead anyone watching him back to where they were staying that night.